After years of drought, this year being perhaps one of the most noticeable with recent fire bans and mandatory water restrictions, the current prognosis of this year”s fire season is frightening to say the least. “Ultimately, we have been in strong fire conditions for several years, but the problem this year is that we didn”t get the quality of rain we needed to try and pull us somewhat out of this drought. We realize that our reservoirs are full, but we didn”t get the ground water that we needed, which means that the streams and ponds are going to dry up quicker,” said Little Lake Training Chief Chris Wilkes.

California State Law requires that all homes have 100 feet of, or to the property line, clearance around homes. “There”s a misconception that the 100 feet means that you moonscape your property for a 100 feet around your home, and that”s not at all what CalFire is after,” said Wilkes.

What Little Lake and CalFire are looking to see at homes throughout the Willits community is people following the safety measures that will help prevent massive wildfires. “We have a lot of homes intermixed with the wildland itself and keeping those families safe and those homes safe is a priority,” said Wilkes.

According to their guidelines, properties should not only be cleared of flammable vegetation, fire fuel, and debris within the 100 feet clearance zone, but trees should be spaced to reduce fire spread and all trees should be pruned up to at least 10 feet vertically to eliminate what is know as a “fire ladder”.

The defensible space of 100 feet is divided into zones; the zone within 30 feet of the home is the most critical area, meaning this zone requires the greatest reduction in flammable vegetation. Create a fire free area within five feet of the home and make sure that all firewood and propane is stored at least 30 feet away from home.

Tree limbs and any combustible fuels/debris should be removed from beneath trees and be sure that all tree are trimmed away from home, at least 10 feet away from chimney. “CalFire will be doing what they call LE-100s, and that is property inspections to make sure that people are meeting their defensible space requirements,” said Wilkes. Wilkes added that taking the aspects of the property into consideration when creating a fire safe area is also important; wind and slope can make a huge impact on the way fire travels. “Where the home resides is a huge part of making it fire safe,” said Wilkes.

The home itself needs to be made fire safe as well. Wilkes explained it”s the “little things” that cause homes to go up in flames, meaning small spaces and holes need to cleaned and protected. Spaces under decks need to clear of all flammable debris. Any holes in the home need to have ? inch screen mesh over them and gutters and roofs should be clean. It is also important that all homes be easily located clearly with clearly marked addresses and street signs should be in place. “If homeowners and landowners can pull this stuff off that we are talking about, it really is a huge benefit to them and to the fire service. It makes it much easier for the fire department,” said Wilkes.

A lot of home and property fire prevention information discusses irrigation, but because of the current water shortage irrigation is not really an option, however, xeriscaping is. Xeriscaping is the planting of drought friendly plants that don”t require a lot of maintenance or water and are less combustible, explained Wilkes.

Both Wilkes and Lake Fire Chief Magann are excited and proud to be able to say that Pine Mountain is now nationally recognized as being a fire safe community. “That”s a really big deal. That means that they have taken the steps to prepare their community, to organize information, disseminate information, gain federal funding for reduction of fire hazard. So there”s a strong community support up in Pine Mountain and they should be recognized for that,” said Wilkes.

“It”s going to be a fairly early season for us. We”ve already had two control burn escapes this past Tuesday (April 15); things are set to burn right now. The property owners and the property managers have the responsibility to ensure that their property is as safe as they can make them. This year is probably going to be a real page turner for us. We are probably going to see some things we haven”t witnessed before this year,” said Magann.

Keeping properties and homes up to the fire safe guidelines, always aiming toward prevention, reporting fires early, and quick response times are going to be the keys to keeping the Willits community safe during the 2014 fire season, Magann and Wilkes agreed.

“Everybody knows that we have been in a water situation all over the state?we could have a bad fire season, but with the help of the community, people taking responsibility for their properties and clearing them, we could make it a very minor fire season,” said Wilkes.